The event alongside the Cup was seen as the showpiece of the meeting.
On his first ride in the event for trainer Antony Missen, Morris took the gelding to the front from the pole draw. However, Mitch Chapple on Always Be Chaps seemed determined to find the front and he eventually did, while Grosso Nasso took the course and favorite Walter Warlock was caught outside the leader. But he didn’t stay there long as Major Reason zoomed through the field from behind to race outside the leader.
GROSS NASO DEC 5 REPEAT
Always Be Chaps still led into the final corner, but he was tackled by Major Reason. But in a stroke of genius, Gross Nasso broke the gap between the two and the big gelding ran faultless. However, Walter Warlock held on for a four-walk run-out.
However, Gross Naso had the momentum and he kept Walter Warlock just under two meters away. Major Reason, who had a lot of work to do, fought vigorously for third place. Gross Naso ran 1.56.3 for the 2030 meters.
In fact, Gross Naso was bred to be above average. His dam, the Art Major mare Louvre, won 16 races and 12 placings from 44 starts and just over $400,000 in stakes money. As a three-year-old she was a double Group 1 winner beating the Alabar Breeders and the APG Fillies Final at Menangle and as a two-year-old winning the Breeders Challenge Final and the Victorian Sapling Stakes.
Gross Naso is her best performer to date, but she has also left the capable winning fillies Delightful Lou and Miss Hornigold.
For trainer Anthony Missen, who trains at Tamworth, it was one of his biggest successes.
It was a nice victory. I didn’t know if he would get the late split, but. Sloys, the breeders, had him for sale on the internet and we bought him for $4,300. It’s now eight wins and he’s hit it off in the bush environment. We put together a little syndicate and the rest is history. Our usual driver Blake Hughes chose to drive Grace Panella’s horse, which was fair enough. So it turned out well. To be honest, I didn’t think we would be able to lead all the way over 2000 meters.
So we had to sit down and there’s always luck with that and it worked out.
I told Robbie you’re the man. You’ve produced more winners than me. So just go out and do it.
We’re looking at the Golden Guitar in Tamworth. I’m not sure how many points we’ll get tonight. He had a rating of 70, so the Golden Guitar is a maximum of 75.
By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink
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